creative jewish mom

Watercolor Flower Paintings And A Happy Birthday To Bubby!

To honor my dear mother on her birthday, and at least post a photo of a birthday card that was made on time, my daughter and I sat down for a little introduction to painting backgrounds with water color. And we quickly realized that painting with water colors to produce those lovely etherial paintings that we love is really quite difficult! Nonetheless, the point here was to make a birthday card for Bubby, and now we know that some actual lessons in using watercolors would be a great idea! (I've always dreamt of making tiny beautiful landscape watercolor paintings, on travels near and far. Sigh.)

First we made a background of circles with watercolor paints and lots of water, and then we drew flowers over the circular splotches with a permanent marker. (Do find a finer permanent marker than the one we used for best results.) The nicest one was the one in which my daughter left space for stems, and so she chose that one to say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBY!

While we generally try to think of our own ideas, sometimes you just gotta copy that great idea someone else has put out there! That said, this craft was directly inspired by a post that I saw on Bloesem Kids.

 

Propogating Succulents From Petals

Propogating succulents from petals is such a fun little gardening experiment, and especially with kids, as your efforts will then produce tiny little succulents that would be perfect to use in little pots that you can use in so many ways. I've even seen some great little wine cork pots turned into magnets, which would be perfect for your tiny specimens when they are large enough.

Honestly, I prefer to propogate from cuttings as one is rewarded with a nice sized plant immediately, but seeing a tiny succulent emerge from the end of a leaf is really quite exciting!

How To Propogate Succulents From Petals:

1 First of all, it is important to know that only succulents with fleshy leaves can be used for this method. Echeveria is a good candidate, while aeonium, which can look similar is not, as the base of its leaves are not fleshy. The succulent that I used here is called Graptopetalum paraguayense or ghost plant.

2. Remove the leaf from the succulent at the base. In my case I actually used leaves that had fallen from larger cuttings that had not yet rooted. Allow leaves to sit for several days. (In my case I allowed the leaves to sit so long that they actually grew tiny new plants with no attention whatsoever!)

3. Place your leaves on a moist paper towel, or a bed of dirt, and spray with a water bottle, or water the dirt. Keep the dirt moist, and wait untill tiny plants with the cutest little pink roots emerge!

4. Continue watering, and while I have placed mine in direct sun, and they have been fine, it is best to place your new little babies in bright protected spot until they are big enough to survive the heat. Once the tiny new plant starts to grow, the mother leaf will eventually wither and fall off.

That's it! Don't have any succulents in your life? What are you waiting for, they're so much fun, and within a year or two, if you propogate with leaves and cuttings, you can have more than enough little succulents around to make small centerpieces and use them around your home in creative ways!

Stay tuned for another post regarding propogating succulents from cuttings, and start scouting your friend's gardens for plants from which they might be willing to share some pieces.

Today Is Holocaust Rememberance Day

 

S I L E N C E

 

There are no words that can possibly justify or aptly define the tragedy that is called

The Holocaust.

Instead we must use our words to make the world a better place. By turning our backs on apathy we are remembering and honoring those who suffered and lost their lives at the hands of evil, not so very long ago.

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Spring is here in Northern Israel, and my container garden is blooming with delicious colors, which has me thinking about macrame hanging planters and lazy summer afternoons crocheting. Don't know if I'll get to either of them, but am so happy to be able to share with you all this wonderful inspiration from around the world! Here are the features from last week's party:

Fabulous yarn carrot DIY from bugaboo, and a cuter than ever crocheted apple from Tournicote....

A beyond adorable crocheted doggie from Tournicote..... and a beautifully simple "garden stripes" crocheted baby blanket from lacy crochet.

Just in time for summer: a print it yoursefl watermelon tablecloth from Aunt Peaches, and a fun retro camper knit key chains from ginx craft.

A triangular granny bunting from howling at the moon, and a sweet little crocheted basket pattern from mara haakt. (I also posted a similar pattern, in English not long ago.)

 A nice bracelet tutorial from jewelry making journal, and a fun monogrammed and tassle lamp shade from bugaboo.

Two passover desserts that are great year round for those avoiding gluten: a flour free chocolate roll cake from Winnie, and a no bake frozen chocolate strawberry tart from Winnie. That is it for this week's features, what have you been up to?

Quick Key Napkin Ring Craft For The Shabbat After Passover!

To honor this special shabbat, namely the first one after Passover in which we traditionally prepare challah in our homes once again, I just came up with a quick little key napkin ring craft as I'll be making bagels instead the traditional key shaped challahs that I have made in previous years!

And after all, the whole tradition isn't really about the key, but rather about the idea that when a Jewish woman makes challah, and makes the appopriate blessing over the dough before it is baked, she is bringing blessings into her home, which has the power to open all kinds of gates!

And shhhhh, my kids are out running some errands for me, so I'll keep these little key napkin rings a surprise until we set the table! And of course key napkin rings could be great for so many occassions, like a house warming, or a graduation, or a bar or bat mitzvah....you name it!

How To Make Key Napkin Rings:

Supplies:

• heavy weight aluminum foil, or even the weight found in disposable aluminum pans
• a ball point pen
• a sharpie
• scissors
• ribbon or yarn

How To: Quite simply draw old fashioned key silohuettes on your foil with a ball point pen, which makes the key look embossed on the opposite side. Cut out and attach to napkin with a ribbon or piece of yarn. My yarn is really too thin, (but this is what I had in the cabinet) so crochet a chain or use a wider piece of ribbon for the nicest results!

Oh and by the way, the tradition of schlissel challah is of Ashkenazic origins, the Moroccans brlng blessings into their homes immediately after Passover by preparing mofleta, which you can read about here. 

Crocheted Cap Sleeved Sweater For Girls That You Can Easily Customize!

Looking for a not so difficult and quick to crochet sweater for a sweet girl in your life? I'd recommend this Bebop Cardi from Lion Brand, as I made it in about two nights and it's the perfect little cropped sweater for any wardrobe, and easily spans the seasons.

Migrating Storks In The Neighborhood!

One of the great pleasures of living here in Northern Israel is that we have the thrill of witnessing migrating storks twice a year as our home happens to be on their migration path! Very often they come and go too quickly to capture on film, and my zoom capabilities are limited, so the actual sighting is far more exciting than these photos! In these photos the storks are flying in a circle in preparation to continue their journey after pausing in the old cemetary, just beyond our home, for a little snack.

Post-Passover Notes To Self!

Dear Self, How are you? How was your holiday? Just thought I'd let you know, your blog is a perfectly good place to make the lists you'll need to access next year, or during the year regarding your needs for passover, isn't it? After all, you won't misplace this list, or will you? And now that everything is fresh in your mind, you certainly should waste no time in writing down any necessary notes. So here goes:

Things To Buy For Next Year's Passover:

• A few good knives. (five terrible knives just don't do the trick....ended up using one simple serrated one the whole week!)
• A medium sized pot for cooking potatoes and cholent/hamin. (Forgot that I broke the lid to that sized pot last year, and this year used a lid that was too big, whoops.)
• We now have only enough china dinner and salad sized plates for nine guests, so it's time ot buy a new set of china, yippee!
• We have only five gold rimmed wine glasses, time to buy a nice set of glasses to use for the seder
• We do need to buy washing cups
• We do need to buy hand/dish towels
• We do need to set aside some birconim for Passover use, or buy some new ones.
• This year we loved using the citrus juicer attachment on my new food processor, which will now be relegated to year round use, so maybe we should get a little electric juicer, or a hand juicer, or even a food processor?
• We are still holding out on not buying an oven, as who needs all the cakes and kugels when there's so much matzo? (And in our case, our yearly indulgence of chocolate spread!) Nonetheless, if we should ever need to feed an army, an oven could be quite useful.

Things We DON'T Need To Buy For Passover Next Year:

• We have several good peelers
• We have a new cutting board and several old ones
• We have an electric kettle (silly me, had husband buy another one this year, though bought one last year)
• We have a hand mixer and a soup mixer
• We have patterned plastic tableclothes to use outside and in the kitchen
• We have wonderful food catchers for the drains (bought double the amount this year!)
• We have a beautiful white cloth tablecloth which will be set aside for Passover once it has been washed and ironed.

Things To Make For Next Year's Passover:

• It would be nice to have a large matzo cover, how about crocheting a mandala and backing it with some nice fabric, could be great! Hey how about making lots of covers and selling them in your etsy shop, hmmmm.
• We really need a larger afikomen bag/envelope than the felt one you made a few year's back
• Start with kids right after Purim to make pillowcases for the seder, this year we ran out of time, sigh.

That's all for now, hope you had an amazing and meaningful Passover holiday, self. Oh and by the way, self, staying organized during the year might be a good thing to consider, the holiday was wonderful, but this year's preparations could have been much easier if only.......

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday Passover edition! I'm just stopping by the blog to show you the wonderful features from last week's party and to wish you all a wonderful remainder of the Passover holiday! Thanks so much to all those who contributed last week, and my apologies if you didn't get a comment from me, holiday time is busy around here! Take a look at all the fabulous features from last week's party, which are overwhelmingly crocheted, or animal related!

 A sweet amigurumi owl from my crochet projects, and a lovely crochet blanket that combines stripes and squares, from lanas de Ana.

A beautiful crocheted blanket from chris in dehaak, and a sweet crocheted bunny rattle pattern from loopsan.

 A sweet felt chicken made by howling at the moon, and a granny blanket with a unique and lovely combo of colors, made by handmade by amalia.

A fabulous crocheted fox blanket from homemade at my place, and a fun hula girl costume from bugaboo.

So simple and so fabulous, washi tape covered tea lights from bugaboo, and my home is my castle has been crocheting with yarn made from her kid's clothing, with great results!

A serene crocheted seascape blanket from the crochet caretaker,  and this fantastic cover for an often used park bench from My World Of Colours.

A fun quilt square from the sewing lab, and simply adorable embroidery made from a child's drawings by handmade by Amalia. That is it for the features, I'm off to prepare for the last holiday within the week of Pesach, thanks for joining me here!

Propogating Geraniums From Large Cuttings

Spring is in the air, and while I'm not doing any gardening right now, as we are in Passover holiday mode, I couldn't wait any longer to share with you this nice discovery: you can root large cuttings from tall geranium plants, I've done it successfully with cuttings that were 12" or even a bit longer! That means that with just a bit of patience, you can fill a pot with cuttings and get the effect of much more mature plants!

And not only that, I actually rooted these cuttings about three months ago, while winter weather was still hanging around. Rooting geranium cuttings does not require rooting hormone, but on account of trying to root large cuttings with tough stems, I did use rooting hormone. Not only that, it's too bad I didn't take before photos as my cuttings had tiny yellow/brownish leaves and looked quite sickly, and look at them now!

Happy container gardening!

ps: For those of you who knew our wonderful friend Tivka Cohen, of blessed memory, who passed away unexpectedly in Northern Israel three months ago, these geranium cuttings were from her garden, and are now living on and hopefully blooming soon in mine!